Enchne-stahting device



1. n. memos; ENGINE SIARTING DEVICE. APPUQATIQN FILED MAR-15. 1918.

INVENTOR .JL/L/LE H R/CHHRDS ATTORN Y Patented July 15, 1919.

JULIUS H. RICHARDS, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

ENGINE-STARTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J uly 15,1919.

Application filed March is, 1918. Serial No. 222,979.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULms H. Rrcnsnos, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Engine- StartingDevices, of which the following is a specification. x

In the use ofdnternal combustion engines on autovehicles it has becomealmost universal practice to crank them by means of an electric motorreceiving its power from a storage battery. Various methods of applyingthe electricmotor to the engine have been proposed and used. A verycommon method of-engagement involves the use of a weighted inionconnected to the starting motor sha through the medium of a. sleeve anda heavy spring, the driving pinion, be ing automatically moved into andout of engagement' with the engine driven member,

such as the gear on the fly wheel, when current is appliedto theelectric motor. Such an engagement is known as the Bendix drive.

There are certain limitationsto a drive of this kind, one such being thenumber of teeth that may be cut on the driving pinion to get a high gearratio of engagement, that is to say, the lower the number of teeth onthe pinion with a certain fixed number of teeth on the fly wheel thegreater will be the purchase of the starting motor on the engine.Another objection to the Bendix drive is the length of same and cost ofmanufacturing.

It is the object of my invention to produce a starting device which willbe small and compact, cheap to manufacture and capable ofbeingconstructed so as to give the greatest purchase betweenthe startingmotor andthe engine that is possible to obtain,-the only limit being thestrength of the materials.

These and other objects will be a. parent after a study of thespecification an draw ings, in which Figure 1 is a part, plan andsectional view of my starting device in its normal position.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the elements of my starting device.

Fig. 3 is a right hand view of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a-view of thedrivi pinion with part broken away to showcertain details.

Fig. 5 isa view of the retaining ring serving in part to hold thedriving device together.

Fig. 6 is a. view of the threaded nut for causing the drivin pinion tomove'in-and out of mesh with t e engine driven member.

Fig. 7 is a view of a loclrwasher used in cooperation with the retainingring shown in ig. 5.

Fig. 8. is a view of a spring lock used in the starting device.

Re'fcrrin now to the details, wherein like numbers re er tocorresponding parts in the various views, 1 illustrates an engine drivenmember, which, in the form shown, is a fly wheel, which carries gearteeth 2. 3 is the end of a starting motor shaft. The motor itself is notshown as this is no part of my invention and its functions are wellunderstood. The shaft 3 is reduced for a portion of its length at 4 andupon this reduced portion is carried a ar wheel or driving pinion 5. Inthe Bendix drive the interior bore of the pinion. 5 is threaded to runon a threaded sleeve but in my improved device the bore of the pinion 5is smooth. The left hand end of the pinion 5 which I term the nonworkingend, since it is not in engagement with the flywheel, has the teethturned oli down to the root and a. collar 6 placed thereon and'theremaining portion of the stock of the pinion 5 is spun oior at. 7 tohold the collar 6 rigidly in place on the pinion 5.

I will now describe the method in which the pinion 5 with the collar 6assembled thereon, as above described, is drivingly connected to theshaft 3. A cylindrical drum 8 has one end (see Fig. 3) perforated so asto have teeth 9 to correspond in number and contour to the teeth inpinion -The other end of the drum is open but the surface thereofterminates in fingers 10 which have slots 11 therein, the purpose ofwhich will be later pointed out. The extreme end of the shaft 3 isthreaded at 12 with a suitable type of thread and a nut 13 is adapted tobe carried thereon. The nut 13 has notches 14 corresponding in numberand width to the fin erslO of the drum 8. As shown in Fig. 1 t e drum iscarried on the pinion frinthe manner already explained and the nut 13screwed on to the threaded end 12 to proper position, when the pinion 5and the drum 8 are slid over the shaft 3, so the fingers 10 engage thenotches 14 of the nut 13. As will be seen in Fig. 1, the part of the nut13 between the notches 14 preferably projects beyond the cylindricalsurface of the drum 8 so as to prevent any chance of the fingers 1Ofrorr'rspringing out of the notches 14. This construction enables me touse a flat l king washer, later referred to, thereby cheapening the costof the manufacture of my device. The flat locking washer 15 having slots16 adapted to receive the fingers 10 is then placed over said fingersand the retaining ring 17, having projections 18 that are adapted toenter the slots 11 in fingers 10, is snapped into position therebylocking the drum 8 and the pinion 5 to the nut 13 hence completing thedrive connection between the shaft 3 and the pinion 5. From the above itis seen that my method of fastening the nut 13 to the drum 8 constitutesa quick detachable means for the purpose of easy and rapid assembly anddisassembly when necessary.

Thereare other details which enter into the operative connection of thepinion 5 to the shaft 3 which I will now explain. A portion of the shaft3 is reduced at 19 and on this reduced part is carried a spring 20 thatis held in place by a washer 22 which in turn is held against the spring20 by a spring lock 21 that engages a groove in the shaft 3 at the pointwhere the threaded por tion 12 and the reduced portion 19 meet. Theinner part of the nut 13 has a flange 24 for supporting one end of aspring 25 carried within the drum 8. The other end of the spring 25rests against the collar 6. The function of the spring 20 will be laterreferred to. A washer 23 serves as an abutment for the spring 20 at thepoint adjacent the pinion 5. I prefer in the assembly of my startingdevice to put a certain initial pressure on the spring 25 so as toalways exert sufiicicnt pressure against the parts to prevent them fromrattling. This is one of the functions of the spring Between the end ofthe pinion 5 and the shoulder 26 on the shaft 3 there is a spring 27 forthe pun pose of keeping the pinion 5 and its asso ciated parts fromcreeping forward into engagement with the gear teeth 2. I prefer to usea washer 28, resting against the shoulder 26, for the spring 27 to abutagainst.

Coming now to the operation of my starting device, which is shown in itsnormal position, when the starting motor is operated the pinion 5, onaccount of the inertia of the pinion 5 and its associated parts, startsadvancing longitudinally into engagement with the gear teeth 2. Justrevions to the full engagement of the pinion 5 with the gear 2 theflange 24 comes into engagement with the washer 22 and the sprin 1 20 iscompressed thereb taking up the s ock of engagement. hen the enginestarts on its own power and the gear 2 begins to travel faster than itwas driven by the pinion 5, the nut 13 immediately operates to draw thepinion 5 out of engagement with the engine driven member and under thiscondition the inner end of the pinion 5 strikes against the washer 23 sothat the spring 20 acts to absorb the disengaging blow of the startingdevice. Should, for any reason, the teeth of the pinion 5 meet end onwith the teeth 2 when travelin into engagement thereby preventing itsorward travel, the nut 13 will still continue to move forward pushingthe drum 8 forward on the teeth of the pinion 5 compressing the spring25 until this spring has been compressed to a point where it offerssufficient resistance to cause the nut 13 to begin to turn the pinion 5.It will be understood that the pinion 5 will need to move but a littlebefore it will line up with the teeth 2 and it will then, due to thecompression of the spring 25 and the action of nut 13, slip immediatelyinto engagement. It is, therefore. seen that sprin 25 serves anadditional function as just escribed in addition to the function firstmentioned heretofore.

It will be understood that although I have shown my starting device adated to be engaged with the gear on the y wheel, that the engine drivenmember may be some other gear operated by the engine.

In the drawing I have shown a drive of the inboard type, that is to say,a type in which the starting pinion is moved toward the starting motorand no bearin is required on the outer end of the driving shaft. It willbe understood that my device is readily susceptible to the necessarychanges to make it into an outboard type. that 18 to se one in which thedriving shaft has an out ard bearing external to the starting motor,both types being in use in the trade. It is also to be understood thatmy device is susceptible to other changes as to its details withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention and the scope of the appendedclaims Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. In astarting device the combination of, an engine driven member having gearteeth thereon, a drivin shaft having screw threads, a inion guidinglysupported on the shaft, or engagement with the gear teeth of the enginedriven member, a nut carried by the screw threads, a drum operativelyconnected with the pinion and having spaced promotions at one end. saidnut havmg promotions extending between the drum projections and beyondthe outer surface of the drum, means to hold the projections inassembled relation comprising a flat annular washer fitting about thedrum pro jections and behind the nut projections and a snap ringcooperating with the drum projections and holding the washer in place.

2. In a starting device the combination of, an engine driven memberhaving gear teeth thereon, a driving shaft having a smooth portion and ascrew threaded portion, a pinion having a smooth bore guid inglysupported on the smooth portion of said shaft for engagement with thegear teeth on the engine driven member, a nut 3. A drive for enginestarters comprising a rotatable shaft, a driving member mounted thereonfor both longitudinal and rotary movement thereof and rotary movementtherewith and adapted to cooperate with and drive a member of the engineto be started, a control member mounted on said shaft for longitudinaland rotary movement thereof and rotary movement therewith, driving meansconnecting between the driving member and the control member, and asingle means serving for stopping said longitudinal movement of thecontrol member back and forth on said shaft.

4. In a starting device the combination of, an engine drivenmemberhaving gear teeth thereon, a driving shaft havin screw threads, agear wheel having a smal bore slidably supported on the shaft adjacentthe engine driven member and adapted to engage the gear teeth thereon, adrum operatively connected at one end to the gear wheel, a nut carriedon said screw threads and operatively en aging the other end of saiddrum and quic detachable means consisting of two elements only, a flatlocking washer and a snap ring engaging the outer extremities of thedrum whereby the said drum is held in driving relationship between thenut and gear wheel.

5. In a starting devicethe combination of, an engine driven memberhaving gear teeth thereon, a driving shaft having screw threads, a nutcarried on said thr eads, a gear wheel carrying a collar slidin lysupported on said sha t adjacent sai engine member and adapted to engagethe gear teeth thereon, said nut and ear wheel being operativelyconnected toget er by a drum having one end fitting in the teeth of saidgear wheel and abutting against said collar and the other end fastenedto said nut, and a'spring within said drum having one end annularlysupported by said nut and the otherend abutting against said collar,said spring serving to prevent rattle between.

said arts.

6; n a starting device the combination of, an engine driven memberhaving gear teeth thereon, a driving shaft having screw 'threadedrotatable member, a. drivin threads, a nut carried on said threads, agear wheel carrying a collar slidingly supported on said shaft adjacentsaid engine, member and adapted to engage the gear teeth thereon, saidnut and gear wheel being operatively connected together bya cylindricaldrum havin one end slidingly fitting in the teeth of sair gear wheel andabutting against said collar with the other end cletacha'bly fastened tosaid nut, and a spring within said drum having one end annularlysupported by said nut and the other end abutting against said collaradjacent the drum end, said spring having a normal tension to preventrattle between the gear wheel, nut and drum and also serving to permitthe nut and drum to advance longitudinally along the shaft should thegear wheel meet with an obstruction in oing into engagement with thegear teeth ont e engine driven member, whereby when the gear wheel isslightly rotated the compression on said spring will slide the gearwheel quickly into mesh as described.

7. In an engine starter drive including a 1811b ber mounted thereon forlongitudina movement thereof and rotary movement therewith, said drivingmember consisting of a nut adapted to travel on the threaded part ofsaid rotatable member, a cyliudricnlly shaped member fastened at one endto said nut and having a gear wheel operatively connected to the otherend, a spring within the cylindrical member adapted to exert initialpressure between said nut and gear wheel; and a second spring within thecylindrical member carried on said rotatable member adjacent thethreaded pait serving as a stop for said nut and driving member in bothlongitudinal directions of travel as described.

8. In an engine starter drive including a threaded rotatable member, adriving member mounted thereon for longitudinal movement thereof androtary movement therewith, said driving member consisting of a nutadapted to travel on the threaded part of said rotatable member, acylindrically shaped member detachably fastened at one end to said nutand having a gear wheel operatively' connected to the other end, meanswithin the cylindrical member for exerting an initial pressure betweensaid nut and gear wheel for the purpose described; and means within thecylindrical member carried by said rotatable member for limiting thelongitudinal movement of the nut an driving member in both directions.

9. In an engine starter drive including a threaded rotatable member, adrivin member mounted thereon for longitudina move ment thereof androtary movement therewith, said driving member consisting of a nutadapted to travel on the threaded part of said rotatable member, acylindrically shaped member fastened at one end to said nut and having agear wheel operatively connected to the other end, means within thecylindrical member having an initial pressure between said nut and gearwheel for preventing rattle and further for assisting said nut inoperating said gear wheel as described; and means carried within thecylindrical member for limiting the travel of said nut longitudinally intwo directions.

10. In an engine starter drive including a threaded rotatable member, adriving member mounted'thereon for longitudinal movement thereof androtary movement therewith, said driving member consisting of a nutadapted to travel on the threaded part of said rotatable member, acylindrically shaped member fastened at one end to said nut and having agear wheel operatively connected to the other end, means within thecylindrical member having an initial pressure between said nut and gearwheel for preventing rattle and further for assisting said nut inoperating said gear wheel as described; and means carried within thecylindrical member for limiting the travel of said nut longitudinally intwo directions, and means for preventing said driving member fromcreeping on the rotatable member.

11. In an engine starter drive including a threaded rotatable member, adriving membcr mounted thereon for longitudinal move ment thereof androtary movement therewith, said driving member consisting of a notadapted to travel on the threaded part of said rotatable member, acylindrically sha ed member detachably fastened at one en to said nutand having a gear wheel operatively connected to the other end, ahelical spring within the cylindrical member annularly supported at oneend by said nut and having the other end abutting against said gearwheel and exerting an initial pressure against each; a second helicalspring within the first carried on said rotatable member for limitingthe longitudinal travel of said driving member and absorbing with thefirst mentioned spring the shocks of engagement, and a resilient memberfor preventing the driving member from creeping on the rotatab'lemember.

12. In a starting device the combination of, an engine driven memberhaving gear teeth thereon, a driving shaft having a gear wheel carriedthereon and adapted to engage with the gear teeth on the engine drivenmember, said gear wheel being drivingly connected to said driving shaftthrough the following instrumentalities; a collar attached to thenon-working end of the gear wheel, a cylindrical drum having one endperforated to conform to the shape and number of the teeth on the earwheel and carried thereon, the other end being open with the surface ofthe drum terminating in slotted fingers, threads on said shaft, a nutcarried on said threads and having a notched flange, said notchesadapted to receive said fingers of the drum and the material betweensaid notches extending beyond the outer surface of the drum to preventsaid fingers from springing out of said notches, a flat annularlockwasher having slots therein to receive the ends of saidfingers and'a retaining ring having projections adapted to engage the slots insaidfingers whereb the drum is locked securely to the nut as escribed.

13. A starter for gas engines and the like comprising in combination, adriven member operatively connected with the engine, a driving memberadapted to cooperate with and drive the other member but normally out ofcooperation therewith, shifting means for said driving member operatedby a starting motor and a single resilient means for limiting the rangeof said shifting means in its forward and backward movement.

14. An apparatus of the class described, in combination, an enginedriven gear, a driving gear adapted to cooperate therewith, a motordriven shaft having a portion inclined to its axis for effecting themovement of said driving gear into mesh with said driven gear, means-forthen transmitting torque from said shaft to said driving gear includinga rigid member coiiperating with said shaft and a resilient stop forlimiting the motion of the rigid member and connecting it for operationof the driving ear, said resilient stop serving also to limit t e motionof the rigid member when the driving gear is forced out of mesh with thedriven gear on the starting of the engine.

15. A starter for gas engines and the like comprising in combination, anengine driven member, a driving member adapted'to c0- operate with theother member but normally out of cooperation therewith, shifting meansfor said driving member operated by a starting motor, said shiftingmeans including a flanged nut, a coiled spring between said nut andsupported on the flange thereof and said driving gear to transmitlongitudinal impulses from said nut to said driving gear to glace it inmesh with said driven gear, a

rum cooperatlng with sa d nut and with the teeth of said driving gear,and a yielding stop to limit the forward longitudinal travel of said nutto compel said nut, said drum and said driving gear to turn with saidmotor whereby the engine is started, said yielding stop serving also tolimit the rearward longitudinal travel of said nut and driving gear whenthe said gear is expelled from engagement with. the engine driven memberas the engine starts under its own power.

16. In a starter for gas engine and the like,

a combined shifting and starting member, including a driving pinion, adrum cooperating therewith to drive the same, a flanged rigid memberadapted to connect said drum to a motor driven element, a springinterposed between said ri id element supported on said flange and saiddriving pinion, a flat annular lock washer for maintaining'said rigidmember against said spring and a sna ring for securing said lock washerin position on said drum. n 17. In a starter for gas engines and thelike, a combined shifting and starting member, including a drum forcooperation with a driving gear, a nut within one end of said drumhaving portions extending beyond the surface of said drum, said drumhaving longitudinal fingers within the extended portions of said nut, afiat annular lock washer to assist in holding said nut within said drumhaving slots through which said fingers may pass and a snap ringcooperating with said fingers for keeping the lock washer in place.

In witness whereof I afiix my signature.

JULnis H. RICHARDS.

